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Colorado Citizens Concerned About Plan To Reintroduce Gray Wolves Into the State

With Colorado preparing to reintroduce gray wolves into the state, citizens are growing concerned about the efforts to bring the species back. 

According to FOX News, the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission released a plan to re-introduce gray wolves into the wild on December 9th. The 293-page draft proposal, which is named the Colorado Wolf Restoration and Management Plan, outlines how the organization will achieve the primary goal of recovering as well as helping to self-sustain the wolf population in The Centennial State. 

It was noted that the criteria for selecting locations were that the areas needed to behest of the Continental Divide. The locations are to be 60 miles from the northern, western, and southern borders of the state. There also needed to be a similar buffer from tidal lands in the southwestern portion of the state. 

Keeping those criteria in mind, the commission figured out two suitable areas. The first area is along I-70 between Glenwood Springs and Vail, extending down the Roaring Fork Valley. The second area is along the Highway 50 corridor between Monarch Pass and Montross. It was further revealed that all releases of wolves would take place on either state or private lands. 

Once the plan is finalized the commission should begin to reintroduce wolves by the end of 2023. However, there have been some concerns about the locations where the commission is planning to release the wolves. Locals in the areas mentioned are concerned about the animals’ predatory nature. They are worried that wolves may eat their pets. 

Gray Wolves Were Eradicated From Colorado by the 1940s

Colorado Parks and Wildlife revealed that Colorado is part of the species’ native range. However, the species was eradicated by the 1940s. The gray wolf is currently listed as a State Endangered species in Colorado. The species was systematically eradicated by shooting, trapping, and poisoning in the state.

“Over the past decade, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) restored gray wolves in Wyoming, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, and Arizona,” the agency shared. “Individual wolves, including two wolves that have since mated and produced pups in Jackson County, have been periodically migrating into Colorado. Wolves from the south may do so someday as well.”

In order to story the species population, Proposition 114 was put on the ballot and passed by Coloradans in November 2020. The Proposition calls for the introduction of the gray wolf on designated lands west of the continental divide. 

The agency added it has been in communication with USFWS in regard to the species’ management. “USFWS was represented on the Technical Working Group that was assembled by CPW in planning efforts for reintroducing the species.”

Both agencies are working together to manage the process that will provide management flexibility of the species within Colorado.